Before leaving to go up the great river, I want to take a look at the Veneto Regional Park of the Po Delta, which I have already explored on other occasions. For the Un Po in camper project I have no intention of visiting this area in detail, but for those interested in this naturalistic oasis, the suggestion is to dedicate a few days to it calmly. The Po Delta area is quite vast: 78,600 hectares extend over 18 municipalities in the Province of Rovigo according to the official website and “only” 12,592 hectares out of 9 municipalities according to Wikipedia. In any case, so much stuff!
If this is not enough for you, you can “stretch” to the south to enter the Emilia-Romagna Po Delta Park, which starting from Goro passes through Comacchio and reaches the coastal area south of Ravenna. There are another 53,653 hectares between the provinces of Ferrara and Ravenna to be explored!
Parks Italian style…
Two parks for the same delta? In Italy it is possible, because despite the fact that the establishment of the Po Delta Interregional Park has been planned since 1991, uniting the territories that today cover the two parks, the regional and local institutions have never managed to find an agreement to collaborate in the management of this area, which in 2015 was recognized by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve. But for the visit we can certainly not care about the political inconsistencies… Two parks, a delta, lots of nature!
As far as I’m concerned, on the other hand, during this tour I became curious about the Po di Levante, whose waters no longer have any connection with the river and which has been transformed into a navigable channel, connected to the Tartaro: one of the few Italian rivers that they are born in the plain from resurgences. In this way it was possible to create 113 kilometers of navigable river section, which reach as far as Lake Garda!
At its mouth in the Adriatic Sea is Porto Levante, a fraction of Porto Viro which has only 140 inhabitants. Here there is a modern dock for pleasure boating which has changed the village from purely fishing oriented to a tourist area. The evocative Via delle Valli starts from its Marina, which on tongues of land flanked by water leads to the discovery of the most enchanting places in the Veneto Park. The whole area also lends itself well to exploration by bicycle.
Useful information
- Where to sleep – Along the Via delle Valli, just under 4 kilometers from Porto Levante, there is a large car park with about 20 stalls also suitable for motorhomes, so much so that it is called Park camper Zanza on Google Maps. The area is free but has no services, apart from the rubbish bins (non-differentiated, for this reason there are bins in the Marina di Porto Levante car park).
- Where to eat – In Porto Levante there would be only one restaurant-pizzeria, which is called Oltremare. Recently passed to new management, it seems that a further change is being considered. The result is that in this winter 2022 it is closed. For now, better rely on the pantry of the camper!
- Camper service – The closest one (26 km) is in Mazzorno, along the banks of the Po, in via Gesù Crepaldi 6. I haven’t had a chance to check it yet. Alternatively, there would always be the Rest area and camper service in viale Giuseppe di Vittorio 44 in Ca’ Tiepolo (about 30 km), the one currently (December 2022) entirely occupied by carousels.
